Man saves baby, mom from fire

Dwane Thomas, right, with one of his sons, Jabari. Dwane rescued a woman and her baby from a fire in San Juan yesterday.

GRANDFATHER Dwane Thomas said he did not think twice when he ran into a burning building to rescue a baby and her mother yesterday.

Speaking with Sunday Newsday yesterday, the 39-year-old Water and Sewerage Authority pipe maintenance worker said he was heading into San Juan, around 2 pm, when he saw onlookers video recording a building on fire on Saddle Road. While there, the Laventille resident heard that a woman and her baby were still in the building, which has a bakery, and without hesitating, the father of two ran inside.

"Everything now is about Facebook. I make the move and try to help the baby," Thomas said. "I saw the place on fire and asked if it have anyone inside. It had people there who was too traumatised and like those who was inside forget the baby inside. I see the roof start to fall, I just run inside and the woman tell men the baby inside. The roof fall and when the roof collapsed, I run inside grab the baby and run out. The baby is about a month or so."

Thomas said he suffered some burns to the hand and melted plastic fell on his head but he was not concerned about those injuries. He said, "The most important thing was that the child alive. I not saying that I am a hero but I think if I was not there, it would have just been Facebook videos."

He added that God protected him and he believes that him rescuing the baby from the fire yesterday will spare him from hell fire. Thomas said he did what he did because he loved to do the right thing.